Thursday, December 13, 2007

The Odds

Reading this comparison of deaths in Iraq and the Midwest due to the recent ice storm got me thinking along similar lines. Here in DC we experienced 5 homicides last month in police district 7, which is the same as ward 8. With a population of about 70,000, your odds of being murdered were around 1 in 14,000. In Iraq last month we had 32 soldiers KIA out of a population of about 160,000 troops (figures courtesy of the latest Brookings report on Iraq), with your odds of being killed around 1 in 5,000.

This month troops in Iraq are on track for about 15 deaths, which would reduce your odds of being killed to about 1 in 10,600.

Two thoughts: At what point should Iraq stop being considered a war zone? At what point should ward 8 be considered a war zone?

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